“You must learn to govern your passions; they will be your undoing.”

I watched a lot of television with my dad in the evenings after I had finished school and he had come home from work. We used to watch “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “The A-Team,” and “Airwolf.” The show we never missed: “Star Trek” (the original series) and then “Star Trek: The Next Generation” once it hit the air in 1987. I learned very early on not to talk until the commercials came on. I used to inundate my dad with queries in between scenes because there was a lot about the story that I was too young to understand. During commercials, he was glad to explain things to me. He had a way with words that kept it simple, without a lot of unnecessary conversation. My dad was not a man that liked to hear himself talk. He was a great storyteller because of that. He had a natural use of metaphor about him and could get his point across, quickly with great visual style.

I cannot forget the first time my dad and I sat and watched “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” There are scenes in this film that can never be “unseen” for me as long as I live.

I have found over the years that Hollywood has done an amazing job with the “even” numbered Star Trek films. No one ever talks about “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” I don’t think that I have seen it to this day. EVERYONE talks about “The Wrath of Khan.”

The writers got very smart and pulled from the television series to start this tale. Long ago, Kirk left a gang of genetically superior warriors from the 20th century abandoned on a believed to be survivable planet with no technology. We later find that the planet was uninhabitable and almost killed the genetically superior warriors lead by none other than Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island.

We get to this path quickly and once Khan enters the scene, the movie takes off from one moment of suspense to the next.

I want to go on record saying that I have and will always love the main cast actors for each and every role on both the series and the feature films. Everyone of them owns their characters and I can’t imagine any other actors playing their roles (that’s not to say I dislike the new cast at all, those are altogether different films in my opinion, and I enjoy that set too).

This film features intense moments, intriguing monologues throughout from both Kirk and Khan, and my favorite chess match on film between the protagonist(s) and Khan (eat your heart out Moriarty and Holmes).

The two unforgettable scenes that I have eluded to will not be written about here. I would not want to take seeing those for the first time from anyone. I will say this. They are visually stunning, horrifying, heartbreaking, and well wrought.

My dad and I ended up watching this film together many times. It became one of our staples: Jaws, Blues Brothers, Fright Night, others yet to be mentioned….

I will remember this film for the compelling suspense, action, acting, drama, etc. but I like to remember how much enjoyment my father and I had together bonding over scenes after our first viewing. It was like we were at a concert with our favorite band and they started playing our favorite song right before we saw each of our favorite scenes. Then we would make a small comment on how they made us feel. Remembering those moments with him are truly enjoyable and I hope that I can never forget them. I haven’t so far.